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Posted on 09/17/2007 6:34:51 AM PDT by pepsi_junkie
BRUSSELS/LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) - Microsoft suffered a decisive antitrust defeat in Europe on Monday, sending its shares down 2 percent in pre-market trade.
A European Union court backed a European Commission ruling that Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, illegally abused its market power to crush competitors.
Europe's top competition regulator said the ruling could lead to a "significant drop" in Microsoft's 95 percent market share.
Shares in the U.S. software giant fell before the opening bell in New York on the Luxembourg-based court's ruling. The stock was down 2.2 percent at $28.40 in pre-market trading.
"Its clearly a major defeat for Microsoft. There is no doubt it will spur the Commission on to regulate Microsoft much more significantly," said Chris Bright, a British competition lawyer. They will find that future innovation by Microsoft will be hampered quite significantly."
(Excerpt) Read more at in.reuters.com ...
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